HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-06-17W,
IDIAN; CITY COUNCIL REGULAR
MEETING AGENDA
City Council Chambers
33 East Broadway Avenue
Meridian, Idaho
Tuesday, June 17, 2014 at 6:00 PM
1. Roll -Call Attendance
X David Zaremba X Joe Borton
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Genesis Milam O Luke Cavener (arrived at 6:20 p.m.)
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Community Invocation by None
4. Adoption of the Agenda Adopted
5. Consent Agenda Approved (Pg 2-3)
A. Approve Minutes of June 3, 2014 City Council Meeting
B. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval: : AZ 14-001 Ten Mile
Center by Treasure Valley Investments, LLC Located South of W. Franklin
Road on the East Side of S. Ten Mile Road Request: Annexation and
Zoning of 120.69 Acres of Land with the R-8 (13.23 Acres), TN -C (26.11
Acres) and C -G (81.35 Acres) Zoning Districts
C. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-021 Paramount Subdivision No. 27 by
Brighton Investments, LLC Located Southwest Corner of N. Meridian Road
and W. Chinden Boulevard Request: Forty (40) Building Lots and Two (2)
Common/Other Lots on 11.36 Acres of Land in the R-8 Zoning District
D. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-022 Revolution Ridge Subdivision No. 1 by
Conger Management Located 1100 W. Riodosa Drive Request: Final Plat
Approval Consisting of Forty -Five (45) Building Lots and Four (4) Common
Lots on 14.24 Acres of Land in the R-4 Zoning District
E. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-023 Sagewood Subdivision by Sagewood
Overland, LLC Located South Side of W. Overland Road, Approximately
650 Feet West of S. Stoddard Road Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting
of Two (2) Office Lots, Forty -Five (45) Residential Lots and Eight (8)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda — Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Page 1 of 2
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Common Lots on Approximately 15.62 Acres of Land in the L -O and R-8
Zoning Districts
F. Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement for Baltic Place Addition
Subdivision
G. Resolution No. 14-996: A Resolution Approving the Transfer of the Assets
and Liabilities of the Meridian Heights Water and Sewer District, Ada
County, Idaho, to the City of Meridian, Idaho, Pursuant to the "Agreement
for the Dissolution and Transfer of Assets and Liabilities from Meridian
Heights Water and Sewer District to the City of Meridian; Settlement
Agreement and Release."
6. Community Items/Presentations
A. Fair Housing Presentation (Pg 3-10)
B. Impact of Housing Study for the Valley by Building Contractors of
Southwest Idaho (Pg 10-20)
7. Items Moved From Consent Agenda None (Pg 20)
8. Department Reports
A. Public Works Department: Meridian Heights Water Meter Construction
Budget Amendment for the Not -to -Exceed Amount of $315,000.00
Approved (Pg 20-22)
B. Parks and Recreation Department: Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Amendment
Regarding Grant Revenue for Settlers Village Square Phase 2 for a Not -to -
Exceed Amount of $8,500.00 Approved (Pg 22-23)
9. Future Meeting Topics None (Pg 23)
10. Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c)(d)(f): (c) To Conduct
Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire an Interest in Real
Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency, (d) To Consider Records that
are Exempt from Disclosure as Provided in Chapter 3, Title 9, Idaho Code, and (f)
To Consider and Advise Its Legal Representatives in Pending Litigation
Into Executive Session at 7:10 p.m.
Out of Executive Session at 7:38 p.m.
Adjourned at 9:38 p.m. (Pg 24-25)
Meridian City Council Meeting Agenda — Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Page 2 of 2
All materials presented at public meetings shall become property of the City of Meridian.
Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities related to documents and/or hearing,
please contact the City Clerk's Office at 888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting.
Meridian City Council June 17, 2014
A meeting of the Meridian City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, June
17, 2014, by Mayor Tammy de Weerd.
Members Present: Charlie Rountree , Keith Bird, Joe Borton, Genesis Milam, David
Zaremba and Luke Cavener.
Others Present: Bill Nary, Jaycee Holman, Bruce Chatterton, Tom Barry, Warren
Stewart, Jeff Lavey, Chris, Chris Amenn, Steve Siddoway, Lori Den Hartog, Bruce
Freckleton and Dean Willis.
Item 1: Roll -call Attendance:
Roll call.
X David Zaremba X Joe Borton
X Charlie Rountree X Keith Bird
X Genesis Milam X Luke Cavener
X Mayor Tammy de Weerd
De Weerd: I'd like to welcome you to the City Council meeting. For the record, it is
Tuesday, June 17th. It's 6:00 p.m. We will start with roll call attendance, Madam Clerk.
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
De Weerd: Okay. Item No. 2 is the Pledge of Allegiance. If you will all rise and join us
in the pledge to our flag.
(Pledge of Allegiance recited.)
Item 3: Community Invocation by
De Weerd: We have no one here to lead us in the community invocation.
Item 4: Adoption of the Agenda
De Weerd: So, we will go to Item 4, which is adoption of the agenda.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: One addition to the agenda or a note to be made. On Item 5-G, the
resolution number is 14-996, and with that addition I move that we approve the agenda.
Bird: Second.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 2 of 24
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda as noted. Madam
Clerk, will you call roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener,
absent.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
De Weerd: Item 6-A is our fair housing presentation. I will --
Rountree: Do we want to do the Consent Agenda?
Bird: Consent.
De Weerd: Oh. Sure. I was just speeding through this evening.
Rountree: It's okay.
Item 5: Consent Agenda
A. Approve Minutes of June 3, 2014 City Council Meeting
B. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law for Approval:: AZ 14-001
Ten Mile Center by Treasure Valley Investments, LLC Located
South of W. Franklin Road on the East Side of S. Ten Mile
Road Request: Annexation and Zoning of 120.69 Acres of Land
with the R-8 (13.23 Acres), TN -C (26.11 Acres) and C -G (81.35
Acres) Zoning Districts
C. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-021 Paramount Subdivision
No. 27 by Brighton Investments, LLC Located Southwest
Corner of N. Meridian Road and W. Chinden Boulevard
Request: Forty (40) Building Lots and Two (2) Common/Other
Lots on 11.36 Acres of Land in the R-8 Zoning District
D. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-022 Revolution Ridge
Subdivision No. 1 by Conger Management Located 1100 W.
Riodosa Drive Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of
Forty -Five (45) Building Lots and Four (4) Common Lots on
14.24 Acres of Land in the R-4 Zoning District
E. Final Order for Approval: FP 14-023 Sagewood Subdivision by
Sagewood Overland, LLC Located South Side of W. Overland
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 3 of 24
Road, Approximately 650 Feet West of S. Stoddard Road
Request: Final Plat Approval Consisting of Two (2) Office Lots,
Forty -Five (45) Residential Lots and Eight (8)
Common Lots on Approximately 15.62 Acres of Land in the L-
O and R-8 Zoning Districts
F. Sanitary Sewer and Water Main Easement for Baltic Place
Addition Subdivision
G. Resolution No. 14-996: A Resolution Approving the Transfer of
the Assets and Liabilities of the Meridian Heights Water and
Sewer District, Ada County, Idaho, to the City of Meridian,
Idaho, Pursuant to the "Agreement for the Dissolution and
Transfer of Assets and Liabilities from Meridian Heights Water
and Sewer District to the City of Meridian; Settlement
Agreement and Release."
De Weerd: All Right. Okay. Yes. The Consent Agenda.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: I move that we approve the Consent Agenda with the noted change in the
previous motion and authorize the clerk to attest and the Mayor to sign.
Bird: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second and I will actually have roll call attendance
again -- or roll call again.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener,
absent.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT.
Item 6: Community Items/Presentations
A. Fair Housing Presentation
De Weerd: Okay. Now we are at 5-A and I will -- or 6-A and I will turn this over to Lori
to present or to give an introduction to our presenter.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 4 of 24
Den Hartog: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. We have invited Mr.
Jerome Mapp from the city of Boise here this evening to do a presentation regarding the
city of Boise's Fair Housing Task Force and all of the things that that task force does.
The reason I have invited Jerome this evening is we are a partner, whether you are
aware or not, we are a partner with the city of Boise on their Fair Housing Task Force.
We support the fair housing campaign that they do and Jerome is the fair housing
coordinator over there and we support this program through our community
development block grant. We are required to affirmatively further fair housing in the City
of Meridian and part of the way we are accomplishing some of our federal requirements
is through this partnership with the city of Boise, so I wanted to take this opportunity to
have Jerome talk to you a little bit about all the many different things that the task force
is doing and some of what our grant dollars are going toward in this effort. So, with that
I will turn it over to Jerome and you can come up to the podium.
De Weerd: And welcome, Jerome. It's nice to have you in our Council chambers.
Mapp: Thank you. This is the first time I have been before you.
De Weerd: That's right.
Mapp: And I like the Council chambers, too.
De Weerd: Thank you. Now, if you will, please, state your name for the record we
would appreciate it.
Mapp: Yes, ma'am. Jerome Mapp. 1855 Danmore Drive, Boise, Idaho. 83712.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Mapp: Thank you. I'm the fair housing coordinator for the city of Boise. I'm under
contract with the city. This will be my third year. Actually started 2002 -- 2012 and I'd
like to let you know that the fair housing task force has one major mission and that is to
educate the public in what fair housing is, so I have a short presentation. I welcome any
questions as we go through this. Lori, do we have do they have the handout? Okay.
The first thing that I want to bring to your attention and you have a handout here -- is
what is fair housing and I will give you the quick and short version. As you look at the
front page here is who is protected. Everyone in this building is protected under the fair
housing code. The law. Somebody has some race, some color, some national origin,
religion, sex, status or disability. Every person may not have all of those, but every
person has at least one, so what that really means is that everyone in the United States
is protected against discrimination. Let me back up a second. 1962 was the year --
July 2nd, actually, 1962, that President Johnson signed the Civil Rights bill. There will
be a celebration next Saturday -- next Friday at the Boise zoo where a lot of people are
coming together to celebrate that. Four years later the Fair Housing Act was signed.
You can see here -- and what you can't do is prohibit -- denial of a dwelling, refusal to
rent or sell. Back in the day when I was growing up they used to call it red lining where
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 5 of 24
you couldn't get insurance at the same price in another area of town. Just say that
north Nampa had a red line around it and if somebody wanted to buy a home and
receive insurance, your premium will be higher than the south side. And so the list goes
on. So, what we try to do in our program, which you are part of and I thank you very
much for placing that within your budget every year -- is that we try to educate the public
on fair housing, so some of the things that we do is that we have our fair housing
initiative -- and I will be going through that in a second. We receive funding for various
cities, state agencies, that provide funding for the Fair Housing Initiative. We do
training. We participate in part of the training with HUD and we also do it locally. We
had training over in Nampa this year. We had a training at the HUD office on -- on
accessibility. We have landlord training. So, we do that as well. And when I say we --
because it's a partnership. We have the City of Meridian, the city of Nampa, Boise City,
Idaho Housing and Finance. We also have Idaho Department of Commerce. And
those funds are funneled together to do the initiative, but also the entitlement cities like
Meridian and like Nampa, they participated. Meridian last year sponsored the -- I think it
was a landlords training -- wasn't that correct? Landlords training that we had over at
Idaho State University -- rah rah -- graduate. Yes. And, then, also this year in Nampa
we had that training. We also had partnered with -- it's called AMA, as Apartment
Managers Association, and had a training for them over at the Oxford Inn in Boise. So,
we look at Fair Housing Month and nationally Fair Housing Month is the month of April.
I'm sure that you had the resolution regarding fair housing in Meridian. They do it in
Nampa. The entitlement cities all do it. Not only because they want to, but also it is a
requirement to receive federal funds. We also look at going to communities and being
part of celebrations they may have, such as in Boise we are doing Progressive 4 this --
on the 28th of June. Last year we did events at Nampa and also in Caldwell. We
haven't done one yet in Meridian and I have been working with Lori to let me know what
events -- you know, it may be Dairy Days, it may be, you know, in the future it may be
some other ones, but -- so that we can provide information. Now, as we start off on our
task force we currently have three members. Craige Naylor just resigned -- has retired
from the board after four years. We are in the process of additional individuals on our
task force. You can see we have people from a diverse area of the community to guide
the city in dealing with fair housing issues. Next, please. So, this is what we did in
2013. This is our -- we did an overview for the city of Boise and this is our overview.
Tools of Life in Boise, they focused on disabilities, preparing a transition from high
school to college. Jump down to State of the Child and that was targeting Hispanic
population. We went to the World Refugee celebration last year and that's becoming a
major issue in the state of Idaho regarding refugees and housing that they be
discriminated against regarding housing, just to let them know what's happening. Next
slide, please. One of the things in partnership that we partner with Health and Welfare,
they have what they call a 211 line and if you have any issues regarding housing and
other Health and Welfare issues -- and I'm slowly learning about the other issues they
deal with -- you can call the number 211 and, then, what your concern is and they can
refer you to the proper agency and they will be able to help you. If you look on the back
sheet you will see that we have the top three here, health -- Idaho Human Rights
Commission, Intermountain Fair Housing Council and, then, HUD are the three
agencies to contact. Also there is Idaho Legal Aid that also provides some service. But
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
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what we have done here is that through 211 we looked at the number of phone calls
that came in during the year regarding fair housing. If you notice in April was the
beginning of Fair Housing Month, we had 18 calls. We continued that officially until May
15th and I will tell you what we do, then -- so, that's -- May was 19, eight in June, then, it
spiked up to 18 in July and, then, to 12 in August. We don't know exactly why those
numbers have changed, we just know that those type of complaints were recorded with
the 211 number. Now, one thing we did in 2013 that was different is that through Al
announcements of impediments, it listed some things that the city of Boise should be
paying attention to and so what the board decided to do is -- you know, we have
expertise in our board with their background is where they work, their education, but
there is a whole lot of other things that we don't know. So, what we decided to do was
have a -- our guest speakers -- our speakers forum where we will call individuals in and
let them tell us about their agency, how they are dealing with the issues of housing and
we talked a little bit about fair housing and so these are individuals we talked to and just
kind of briefly discuss a couple of these. We asked Mary Watson to come to talk to us
about HOAs and CC&Rs. We would recognize that those are enforced by the
individuals who live in those subdivisions, but historically in some areas they view those
CC&Rs and HOA fees are -- to discriminate against individuals and so cities are in the
process of reviewing those, we want to know exactly what Boise city was doing at that
time. Planning and zoning. Another issue. I'm glad this is here at this time, because I
did an analysis, oh, about ten years ago and we went -- worked with the city, the city of
Nampa, and we went through the zoning and subdivision ordinance to identify if there
was any issues regarding how the zoning ordinances affect or what affect there could
be as violating fair housing. Nationally -- and I think in Idaho -- definitely in Idaho,
because they passed a law to add into the Local Land Use Planning Act regarding
group homes and define what group homes were. In the past, especially my past, when
I was -- started out in planning in Pocatello, somebody wanted to have a group home
and neighbors would be up in arms. I remember one lady saying -- it was a group of
individuals who were impaired in some way and the lady said, well, what am I supposed
to do if one of them were to come over and walk into my house and say it's mine, you
know, and she was just terrified. So, education needs to be done to explain to people,
you know, what the truth is and that will go only by personal feelings. As you well know
in February of last year the city of Boise passed a sexual orientation or gender identity
ordinance, so that's been in existence for one year. Be happy to tell you that there has
been no complaints, no issues regarding fair housing or any discrimination, but we had
the city -- Mary Ann Jordan and Steve Rutherford from the legal department explain to
the board, you know, what was in the ordinance, how it worked, you know, who do you
talk to if you feel even discriminated against and you will find in the first page of the
handout I gave you that is only Boise. There has been other cities that have passed the
ordinance, but we have the calls going to the police department and they handle that
and so we have that information available as well. We had Elaine Clegg. Anna Park.
We wanted to understand how to work with social media in getting the word out as well,
so we had a meeting with him to talk about public outreach, how we could do it better.
The relationship with the mayor's office. And so that was a great meeting. And, then,
our last one we had for 2013 was Erik Kingston and his responsibilities with the IFHA.
So, that was another great meeting. This year we have had individuals -- the mortgage
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
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companies -- one of the big concerns is how our mortgage is processed, how do they
deal with discrimination. We had someone from the refugee community to talk to them
about -- and I think there is three different refugee organizations in Boise and we just
talked and wanted to get an idea of the issues that they are dealing with as well. Now,
as I mentioned we have a partnership. This is a list of our partners and I will kind of
explain as we go through this slide you will see some of the things we have been
working on. But, you know, looking at -- well, North by Northwest will be a good
example. We did have to pay them to develop some radio and TV commercials. We
had those produced. A video for TV. If they have a Spanish surname -- or Spanish sub
titles and, then, we have our radio ads, which are in English and in Spanish. This year
we had over a thousand radio and TV ads on all the major TV stations, except for
Channel 7, because they are expensive. And, then, we also had English and Spanish
radio stations. So, the awareness plan starts with a proactive message. So, we want to
be positive in what we tell people regarding fair housing. We did our radio and TV ads.
We have bus wraps in Boise and the Nampa routes and that's, basically, our fair
housing poster on the back of the buses. We had them on bus benches. We had bus
panels of our posters in English and Spanish on all the buses. We had posters made.
Mary had an e-mail that went -- an a -memo that went out to everyone, outreach to
various stakeholders and, then, the most important part of this program is that
everything we produce we put on the IFHA website, it's called the Idaho Fair Housing
Forum and so any city in the state of Idaho can download any information. They can
change it, like the posters, the posters could be changed and -- and the local -- it's their
community can be added and they can post -- they could develop their own posters.
So, a lot of small cities say, well, you know, we can't afford to do posters, we can't afford
to do information cards, we can't do radio ads, we can't do TV ads, too much to
develop. Well, it's available and it's free for the taking. There is our fair housing poster.
We hired Oliver Russell to design this for us and so this is our standard poster. This is
the poster on the bus panel on the buses. These are the bus benches. This is the
tailgate wrap. So, it kind of gives you an idea of getting that word out. The city of
Nampa actually did billboards this year, too, and they wrapped their utility boxes last
year with the poster. So, this is what we did this last year. We did -- we had radio and
TV ads. Our other costs included pencils, information cards, and I left them in the car,
so I'm going to bring them back and give them to Lori, so you can all see them. Our
posters. We print those every year. When we go out and do one or our events we have
a table and we have a banner that says fair housing and we have this information
available for people to pick up. We also have candy, so that the kids have their parents
come over so they can spend some time with us. Okay. Our total budget this year was
14,341. We receive money from the Idaho Board of Realtors, the various cities we
talked about earlier and we had some money left over from last year. So, what we are
doing right now is a slide of -- we had contact. So, in summary -- and I will just say what
we are doing right now is preparing for next year's initiative. We are currently looking at
partnering with Boise State University to give us some ideas of how we can get the
word out even better. So, that's something we are working on. Actually, we had a task
force meeting this morning and that was one of our main topics. So, proactive, positive
outreach and to reduce housing discrimination, community based public-private
partnership to review the analysis of impediments, making sure that we update the
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 8 of 24
action plan and so this is a continuous process. We have tried to grow it every year and
I wanted to take this time to let you know as contributors to this program of what we are
doing, what you're a part of in Treasure Valley. So, that's my presentation, Mayor.
De Weerd: Thank you, Jerome. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none, Mayor.
Milam: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mrs. Milam.
Milam: Thank you. I enjoyed that presentation and I am a landlord, so this is all very
interesting information to me. My question to you is if -- if we know of a CC&R is -- that
is -- that has language in it that is discriminatory, if there is somebody that contacts that
association to get them changed or does it exist forever like that?
Mapp: Well, this is -- that's a good questions, because that's one of our discussions
that we have had. We know for sure that some communities actually read covenants
for new subdivisions, so that's one piece of the puzzle. Second piece of the puzzle are
those which have existed for years. The title company does not review those. So, the
answer to your question is that if those are available -- or I should say if they are
identified they should be taken off the books, because even though they may not
enforce them, if someone feels they are discriminated against and they go back and
look at the HOA or look at the CC&Rs and find language that shows they have been
discriminated against, it's more likely that they could lose a case. Now, I'm not an
attorney, but, you know, that -- that would be very important to strike them off the
record.
Milam: So, I have identified one. Who should I get that information to?
Mapp: Well, we have -- that's a good question, too, because we have not identified any
particular source. I would talk to your own attorney to ask that, but I think that having
stricken off the record and identified that they are not a part of that document, I mean
that's going to be the issue that --
Milam: It was a house that I was looking to buy and so I didn't buy the house. I don't
own the property, but I read the CC&Rs and it was crazy.
Mapp: Yeah. Well, let me just give you an example. If you decide to buy the home and
you saw something that was turning against yourself, you would probably go to them
and say, you know, you need to take this off the record and if they refuse, then, you
may be able to take some action on it. But I'm not an attorney. I don't even play one on
TV, so --
Milam: It would have more discriminated against you, than me, but -- it was ugly.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
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Mapp: Yeah. There is -- I have seen a couple and those were, basically, back in the
late '50s, '60s and it makes you shutter.
Milam: Okay. Thank you.
Mapp: Okay.
Zaremba: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Zaremba.
Zaremba: Thank you, Jerome. I realize there are federal laws that are behind this and
make it a good thing to do. Is there a local enforcement component to it that the cities
have to provide?
Mapp: Well, no. Boise city does not have enforcement. We don't have the authority to
enforce. So, you're looking -- you look at your page two of the handout, the Equal
Rights Commission is usually the first one that people go to. And, then, Intermountain
Fair Housing Council and Ann Olsen is the new executive director and she has a
different take on how to deal with these issues and that is discuss, negotiate, and
working it out, versus the past director was more the opportunity of, you know, suing,
because it was discrimination place. So -- and, then, also, as I mentioned, Idaho
Delayed is another contact which we don't show on here, but those -- those are the
enforcement individuals.
De Weerd: Council, any other questions?
Rountree: No. Thanks, Jerome, for the info. It was very good. Good to see you again
Bird: Thank you.
Mapp: Once again, I want to thank you. I know you're getting ready to go on your
budget year, because it's just June, got to have this done in August. I appreciate and
the board appreciates the contribution that the City of Meridian has placed into the
program and just let you know that we will do everything we can to make you proud of
what the task force has done and I also appreciate working with Lori. We worked --
actually we go back a couple years when she was over in Canyon county. But we
worked together at fair housing forum, we could communicate on fair housing issues
and we just thank you for that.
De Weerd: Thank you
Mapp: Thank you.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
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Den Hartog: Madam Mayor, I just have one final comment to add to that. The city of
Boise, as Jerome has expressed, is very appreciative of the funds that -- that we have
dedicated to this, but as the staff person here and a part-time staff person, I am
extremely thankful for the support of the city of Boise and the city of Nampa in the
endeavor, because we are an entitlement city and we are required to address this issue
of fair housing. It is a huge, huge undertaking and not something that I had the
expertise to deal with and not something that we had the ability in house to deal with.
So, we greatly appreciated the partnership with the city of Boise and what they have
brought to the table and it has been a collaborative effort with Boise, Nampa, and
Meridian and we are -- we are very appreciative here on the staff side as well. Just
wanted to add that.
De Weerd: Thank you, Lori. And I think partnerships help all of us in being more
effective and certainly leveraging those dollars.
B. Impact of Housing Study for the Valley by Building
Contractors of Southwest Idaho
De Weerd: Okay. Item 6-B is also a presentation we have by the BCA and I will just
ask Dave if you want to just come forward. Or do you have a special introduction as
well? No?
Yorgason: Madam Mayor, Members of the Council, I asked him and he just said tell
them hi. Out in the audience with me is Jeff Thompson, he is a home builder -- local
home builder. Some of you know him. He is the president of the Building Contractors
Association of Southwest Idaho this year and we certainly appreciate his service to the
industry. So, he's here to allow me to have a little more air time, so I can try to cover
the material for you and do this as efficient as we can.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Yorgason: What I have before you tonight is a presentation, which is really a summary
of two presentations, so I will go through them both quickly for you and grant you the
time you need for questions along the way or certainly at the end, whichever your
choice may be. I'm going to see if I can pretend I know what I'm doing with this chart
here.
Den Hartog: And if it doesn't work, just --
Yorgason: All right. I'm looking for the clicker. I don't see it. It might have moved on
me. It's a little small. I will make it work. If not I will have Bruce's help here. Okay.
Thanks, Lori. Here we go. So, there is two presentations. One is a study that was
done by the National Association of Home Builders of our local economy, specially the
local impact -- economic impact of housing and the study was completed the end of last
year and as the data -- I will go through the data source for you, but, basically, it was the
building permits for all of Ada County and the impact of our local valley here. Secondly,
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I have a local housing report and a little bit of a forecast for you what our future might
look like. The data there is data of homes sold -- single family homes sold in the end of
last year, as well as a little bit of update through May of this year. Bruce, I might need
your help. There we go. Try that. So, the way the study works is this: The National
Association of Home Builders looks at metropolitan service areas. The Boise MSA is
actually made up of five counties and so you might ask, well, why are you studying five
counties? Well, the way it works is this: You take the data for the building permits for
all of Ada County, but we recognize that a builder may be building a home here in
Meridian, however, his landscaper might live in Middleton or Emmett or somewhere
outside of the county, so they will make money on their portion of the construction, take
it back to their local community and spend a portion of those dollars on food or some
goods or services in that section of the county, which is why the study works that way.
Bruce, you want to help? Thanks. So, conventional wisdom is that when you have
more jobs come to the valley you need more houses to provide those homes, those
places to live. People to live. But also when you build new homes that also produces
more jobs, too. And more contractors and so forth. Move it forward, Bruce.
Click a couple times and go through here. So, there are three phases in this study. The
first is called the construction phase. Over the course of construction you have jobs,
you have materials, building permit fees and so forth that are paid and that's all directly
attributed to what's called the construction phase of this study. The second is called the
ripple phase where a portion of those dollars, again, in reference to the landscape
where he might spend some of his dollars within the local economy. Not all. And I will
get into a little more specifics on that. But those first two phases are only based on the
first year. So, it's kind of like when you throw a rock out into the lake and you see a little
bit of a ripple, well, those little ripples are just that, it's a secondary or third spending of
those dollars, but we limit those dollars to just the first year. That's a little more of a
conservative analysis, but that's the way the study is performed. The third is what's
called the occupancy phase. So, once the home is sold or rented out, someone lives
there, you take the income from the person or people that live in that home and those
dollars are spent on an ongoing basis in the local economy. So, a little more of a
picture form. Again, here is the construction phase. When you look at the model you
have the inputs and the outputs. First are the inputs, the value of the construction and
materials, wages, so forth, and, then, at closing you will have realtor commission fees,
title fees, and so forth that are paid at closing and, then, also builders and developers
pay permits, hookup fees, application fees, all attributed to the cost of housing. Those
dollars were -- that analysis was all done here at the local level, reached out to all of our
cities and counties and try to identify what the current permits were and fees at the time
of December of 2013, which we recognize fees have changed here in Meridian for
impact fees since then, but this is based on the information at December of 2013. If
you'd back one step, Bruce. Thanks. The output would be the income for the local
residents of the sale of those homes and the contractors, as well as the taxes, fees, and
revenues that the local jurisdictions gain. Next. From there, then, of course those local
dollars and taxes are spent here in the local economy. That is based on the study from
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, they know what spending patterns are of our local
citizens and based on that information they have identified local income and taxes that
are generated. Again, a smaller ripple might happen two or three times within the first
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year. Next. Occupancy phase. Again, you look at the household income. They spend
a portion of their dollars on local business services. They pay their property taxes. And
those dollars, then, spill out in local income for wages and salaries, as well as taxes.
Next. So, assumptions in the model. Based on the analysis that we have performed
there were 2,611 building permits -- single family residential building permits in Ada
county in 2013. The average home price was approximately 260,000 dollars. Average
raw lot cost -- I will explain that in a second -- is 25,000 dollars. The average for all the
cities and counties for homes built -- the average is approximately 12,000 dollars for
permits and impact fees. And annual property taxes is -- if you move the box -- is just
under 3,000 dollars. Explaining average raw lot cost. What that is is not just the land,
but it's also not what the builder pays -- they don't pay 25,000 for a finished lot either.
What that equates to is you take the lot, but it's what's known as -- maybe in the valley
as a paper lot or preliminary platted lot, wherein you have the land, you have the
entitlement of the preliminary plat where engineering and application fees were paid, but
no construction took place. So, that's the explanation there. So, quickly, again, we will
have a construction phase, a ripple phase, an occupancy phase and, then, just for good
measure we will show you what the ten year total might look like. Next. So, going one
more. So, for single family residential construction, based on 2013 numbers of 2,611
building permits, the total local income generated in our valley is 310 million dollars.
The local taxes collected is just over 37 million dollars. And local jobs is 5,493 and
that's homes built in 2013. You can break down the jobs in the following categories.
Clearly most of them are construction, 3,797. They also fall under the category such as
wholesale, retail trade, and business and special services. Those are the top three
categories. Next, please. Ripple phase. Again, this is just within the first year. A
portion of the first year. There is an additional 153 million dollars of local income to our
valley. Local taxes is an additional almost 11 million dollars. Local jobs nearly 3,000
jobs. You can break them out by those categories, too. Next, please. The ongoing
effect, which is more of a support role of -- so, not any construction jobs here, but the
ongoing annually, 72 million dollars of income. Local income. Wages -- under wages
and such. Local taxes would be just over 13 million. And local jobs is 1,473. You can
break them out by those categories. It's interesting -- let me take a step back here. The
association did this study a few years back, including back in about 2006 for the
industry and so we did a little comparison and it's interesting that people's spending
habits have changed a little bit since 2006. There is actually more jobs -- in other
words, more money spent on eating and drinking places today than maybe was taking
place back in 2006. Next, please. Ten year total, 1.15 billion dollars of income to our
local valley and 173 million dollars local taxes collected over a ten year period of time
just on the homes that were built in 2013, along with 8,436 temporary jobs and 1,473
permanent ones. Someone might ask why so many temporary jobs. The answer is
this: To a local builder who is building a house, to a realtor who sells the home, any
contractor directly related to that house, once the home is built, they are paid for their
job and the home sells, they are now out of work again. They have to take the risk and
go do it again. And so that's the reality of being a small business owner. As we all
understand taking the risk one more time, many of those jobs are temporary jobs in
which they try to go do it again. Next, please. So, by comparison how does that fit with
our local economy? If you take those 5,493 single family construction jobs, it's actually
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-- we all know they are not one employer, but if it were one employer it's as big as the
third largest employer in the county. According to the state of Idaho Department of
Labor Statistics at the end of 2013, St. Luke's is the largest employer with 7,600 jobs.
Micron Technology 5,900. Again, single family residential is 5,493. Boise State and
Meridian School, Boise School District, St. AI's, Albertson's HP, if you follow the list.
Again, if you compare and go back to the past of 2006, Micron, the housing industry,
Alberton's, HP are all about half the number of jobs what we had in 2006, even though
we had a summary coverage, nowhere near what we were before. Interestingly,
though, St. Luke's, Boise State, Meridian schools, Boise schools, they all have more
jobs today than they had back in 2000. They have more than recovered to where they
were at that point in time. Next, please. So, we know those are the positives. We also
know -- and especially here at the city we know that there is some infrastructure cost,
too, in fire and police protection. We have garbage, parks, roads and so forth. Next,
please. So, based on the statistics the data as provided from the local cities to the U.S.
Bureau of Census and Statistics, this is the information which they obtained, broken
down by category this is the annual expense -- I think it's annual. Yeah. Annual
expense per housing unit. And we have, oh, by the way, this information on multi -family
as well. I have chosen to focus this presentation on single family, but if you have any
questions at a later date I could certainly provide that data if you're interested in multi-
family, too. So, the total single family is 2,667 dollars per home annually. However, we
also know it takes capital expenditures -- next, please -- to build schools, hospitals, and
bigger projects and these are the dollars it takes to build on a per house basis each of
those items, total 14,768 dollars per home, single family. Next, please. So, now we
know what the total benefit is, income, jobs and so forth. We also know what the costs
are. The natural question would, then, be does growth pay for itself. Next, please. The
question is, yes, it does, based on the information in 2013. If you want to click to the
next one it shows this in a chart form. It only shows in the first year, but each
continuous year it actually gets better and better based on the taxes that are paid, the
income that's generated and so forth based on the costs were, again, this is 2013
information. So, that's the good news. Next please. So, that is the end of my first little
presentation. I would be glad to roll right into the second one if you would like, unless
you have any quick questions, but the second presentation is my local housing report.
Okay. Next, please. This shows -- a few slides. I just want to go through a few slides
and give you a quick summary of each slide for you. Sales, inventory, maybe the trend
where we are headed. This -- all this information comes from Jerry Webb. He has a
little service that he provides that I subscribe to. All this is from Multiple Listing
Services. So, this is a history of sales -- all new and existing home sales in Ada County.
You can see clearly that we had a nice little average run for the first few years of '99
through 2003. The spike hit and, then, the fell hit. 2008 was the bottom for sales. We
have had a nice steady increase in sales every since and in 2013 the total sales we
8,124. Next, please. If you break those sales down by existing and new construction --
I will focus on the pink bars, that's new construction. Well, back up. You can see,
again, 2008 was the bottom for existing sales, the light blue, however, the bottom of the
new construction sales was actually 2011. It's taking a little bit longer for new
construction to find its bottom and recover through this mess that we had. And if you do
a little comparative analysis you can also see that total sales of 8,124 is actually a little
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more than what we had in 2003, which might be more of a normal year. However, new
construction sales were still far below what we had in 2002 or 2003, so maybe there is a
little bit more room for sales looking forward to the future. Next, please. This chart is a
little busy, but I will quickly kind of summarize it for you. The pink bars are 2013, what
we call pending sales, which is a forecast of what sales might look like and the light blue
is for 2014 and, again, pink bars being 2013. Normally you see sales peak in the spring
and, then, kind of fall off through the fall and summer and that is true again in 2014.
However, pending sales have lagged significantly in new construction this year
compared to last year. You can see the pending sales are -- for new construction are
down about 28 percent for all of Ada County, compared to last year. Next, please.
Again, this chart is a little busy, but I will do a quick explanation. Follow the horizontal
lines. What we all know is prices have gone up quite a bit since 2012 and 2013. We
have had 2012 and '13 both, we had an average of 15, 16 percent increase in our home
values. Again, this is new construction, but existing is pretty similar in those numbers.
Next, please. However, if you look at the numbers comparing 2013, 2014, year over
year percent change, you can see that last month in May we did not have a significant
increase in price. Ten percent is still a good number, but it's not this continuous 15 to
17 percent increase. I think there is a reason why. Again, pending sales might be a
leading indicator inventory is catching up -- and you will see in a little bit. Next, please.
This chart is the overall inventory chart for all of Ada County over year over year. Quick
summary is this: 2008 was the peak and every year the inventory levels dropped year
over year until 2013, where we found the bottom in overall housing inventory and has a
steady rise and, then, again 2014 is higher than 2013. Interestingly, 2014 levels today,
end of May, are the same as where they were in 2011. Something to think about. Next,
please. New construction even more of a dramatic drop in inventory. Sales were down.
Inventory was also down. Couldn't get loans, whatever the case may have been. And
2008 again, peak, drop, inventory levels year over year over year until the bottom was --
again, about June of 2013 we have had an increase in inventory since then. That's also
keeping up with sales, but also the inventory levels. 2014 it jumped up quite a bit and
we are now newly 2009 levels for new construction inventory in Ada County. Next,
please. This breaks down the total inventory analysis by distress sale. Quick summary
is this: We are nearly recovered back to normal. The last bar represents May -- yeah.
it's May and it says that 93 percent of inventory for sale -- all homes for sale in Ada
County are normal home sales versus the distress sales that have been out there
before. A normal market might be in the range of four to five percent and we are at
about six to seven percent today. Next, please. Historically 2012 and '13 were ugly
years. If you look back at the peak or the valley, whatever you want to call it, Ada
County was around 55 to 60 percent of total sales of -- were distressed and Canyon
county was actually closer to 88 percent of sales distressed. We have made a lot of
progress. This also tells me that -- and, again, this is the end of 2013 number. This
tells us that Canyon county is about one year behind of where Ada County is today.
Next, please. This chart shows a month's supply, kind of a rolling average. I have
intentionally did the rolling average, so you could kind of blend some of the peaks and
valleys, the spikes. Clearly back in '05, '06 we were really low on inventory, had one or
two month supply. A normal market might be five to six months supply of homes, just
for your point of reference. We had peaks and valleys through the ugly time, including
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government stimulus and such, but now we are around 6.2 month supply of homes new
construction. So, that's maybe okay. Maybe a little high. But that's where we are today
in all of Ada County. Next, please. This chart breaks out that same statistic by price
category. Yellow is Ada County, blue is Canyon county. Interestingly, there are a lot of
homes currently on the market in the lowest price category of 120 to 160. Likewise,
there are quite a few in the 160 to 200 price category. And we are watching that. We
are not exactly sure what's going on there. We think that most of those are in the Kuna
market, not -- there are, of course, some homes in Meridian for sale below 200,000, but
-- for new construction homes. But this is something of concern. There are a lot of
homes for sale and there has just been a recent flood of homes on the market, so we
are going to be watching that closely. Again, a five to six month supply of homes would
be healthy. If you look in the price categories of around 300,000, maybe 250 to 350,
those are healthy markets there. Next, please. Affordability is always a concern and
quickly this is -- this will show you that affordability is becoming a greater concern. We
are up around the -- a number of 25 percent -- I'm not sure exactly what that means,
other than maybe it's a percent of income to pay or something like that. But primarily
because of the -- not because interest rates are moving, but because of home prices
moving up so much that's now becoming a concern for the builders related to
affordability. Next, please. This chart shows existing affordability. It's hovered around
11, 12, 15 percent, which would be a healthy market. There is a big gap between home
prices new and existing. In fact, probably too big of a gap and cites to the existing being
a little more stronger than new construction over the coming months here. Next,
please. Just a couple more slides and I will be done. This slide here shows a trend
line. The yellow line is really a nice benchmark to follow. This is not new construction,
this is total market inventory, and so if you go back to the year 2000, this should be
considered maybe a normal year, and you put a trend line of an average 3.7 percent
increase in home price year over year, that yellow line represents the average increase
year over year. The blue represents total sales. The pink line is the one I more or less
like, because it excludes the distress sales and that's maybe more of a true sales price
and you can see clearly in 2004, '5, '6, 7 -- even '8, '9 and '10 we were above the trend
line. We overcorrected in 2011, '12, and we have almost come back to the trend line.
So, it might be something that maybe just think that maybe our price has come back to
where it should be. Next, please. This graphic just shows that in the last few years we
didn't build enough houses to meet the population growth and demand of this county.
Long term there is more and more of a need for housing, regardless of the type of
housing, single family or multi -family. There is a need for housing in this country today.
Next, please. In conclusion, we are watching prices closely. We are watching sales
closely. We are watching inventory closely. I think that we have -- I will use the word
stabilized. We are going through a stabilization period and we have over the last
several months. I really don't see a significant price increase in new construction over
the next six months or a year. If we do I'm a little bit worried it could be another bit of a
bubble building, especially if we have inventory shortly following, then, that clearly would
be a form of a bubble. Existing inventory is coming online. You see a month's supply of
homes is building, all indicators that, okay, if we stop here we are okay, but if more
inventory is approaching, then, that's a bit of a concern. Some of the wild cards. Lot
inventory, as we all know, has been short for the last few years, but there were quite a
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few lots coming into the market here this spring and summer. That will help level out
the shortage of lots out there. Interest rates will affect affordability for everyone.
Especially the entry level buyer. And there is forecast and interest rates could easily
jump a full one percent or more a year from now. Those are all forecasts. We don't
know what will really happen. But if that does happen there is a generation out there
that's scared of seven percent interest rates, let alone five percent interest rates and
they don't -- they will have to adjust to that. Jobs. We need good paying jobs and I
want to stand here and say thank you to you here the City of Meridian and all of our
local jurisdictions for all that they do to try to help encourage good paying jobs in our
valley. We need good paying jobs. We need jobs, but especially good paying jobs to
help sustain the housing market. We are concerned as an industry about inflation. As
one point of reference I have talked to several contractors and on the new development
side we are currently seeing about a 15 percent price increase for new construction --
for development construction, such was water, sewer, pipe, streets, concrete and so
forth from last fall until now. So, in less than one year period we have already seen
about a 15 percent increase in costs. Part of that is because materials are going up,
part of it is because contractors are no longer doing it for free and they are actually
earning a wage. Last piece is government regulation, both on a national and local level.
Every regulation has a direct impact on the affordability of housing and we appreciate
everything here at the City of Meridian that you do when you consider your -- the
regulations that are imposed here to make sure there is balance in the housing
affordability. Next, please. That is the end of my presentation. I appreciate your
allowing us to stand here and give us some time and share both of these reports with
you. I'm actually going to several cities to make this similar presentation. Meridian was
the first. Boise will soon follow. And a couple of the cities have expressed interest in
this material as well. Stand for any questions you might have and, again, thank you for
the time.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: Dave, what -- what is the time frame of spec homes selling? New homes? Is it 30
days? Forty-five day? How long are they staying on the market?
Yorgason: Madam Mayor and Councilman Bird, I have talked to a lot of agents --
especially in good selling communities, like Paramount and others -- and don't want to
pick on Paramount, it's just a very good subdivision -- that has very good sales. Agents
are starting to get a little bit nervous, because their builders are starting to ask questions
like how come my home isn't sold yet, because it's now finished. So, I think some
builders might have been a little bit spoiled. I will use that word. I hope that's okay, Jeff.
But I think there is a sense the last couple years where if you build it it will sell right
away, because the inventory was low, but as the inventory has picked up we are seeing
homes on the market a little bit longer than we have seen for the past two or three
years. To answer the direct question directly, I think it depends. It depends if it's a spec
home and where the location might be.
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Bird: Price range.
Yorgason: And price point as well. if you're building in that sweet spot of the 250 to 350
thousand, I think you're safer and those homes, typically, as long as it's quality built and
you're not asking an outrageous price per square foot or something, you're getting a fair
return on your sale, the home should sell within a few months or even less. We know
that during the Parade of Homes many builders had a successful Parade of Homes and
that's one example. However, if you're building in the upper price range or if you're
building in a -- called a B or a C location, I would expect your home to sit a little bit
longer. And so build in interest reserve, because it most likely will sit a little bit longer.
Bird: Follow up, Mayor?
De Weerd: Uh-huh.
Bird: On your first deal regarding all the -- I would like to see -- and while I realize
builders -- home builders don't have anything to do with commercial, I would like to see
the jobs and the dollars with the commercial and the homes, what brings it in here. I
think people -- the jobs and stuff would way surpass St. Luke's. I'd like to see it as a
overall construction deal.
Yorgason: Madam Mayor and Councilman Bird, I appreciate that. And we can kind of
go back and review. If you added the multi -family section of this I believe it does
exceed or right at and that's not including any of the office or other commercial aspects
as well.
De Weerd: You know, Dave, I would also say in your last slide where you mentioned
the wild card, I think what drives price probably more than that -- and you kind of have it
under lot inventory, but it's price of land and what people are actually offering for land.
It's -- it's scary and it's -- it's sometimes offensive how -- how -- and that is the biggest
influencer I think on a lot of this.
Yorgason: Madam Mayor, I'm not going to -- I agree with you. It's certainly a big factor.
I would add that sometimes -- and I'm in the middle of this. As many of you know, that's
my business is land development. I have done this for a few years, so I will just put it
that way.
De Weerd: Yeah. We kind of know that.
Yorgason: I kind of know this corner of the market. When I hear numbers thrown out
like 90,000 an acre or some big number, my first thought is -- I used to think, wow, what
are they doing. Here we go again. But I have also learned that price per acre is not
always the right measure for discussion. The reason why is so many times there are
different factors, like off -sight costs and density that come into play of the equation, so
that 90,000 an acre might actually make a lot of sense, where in another site a half mile
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down the road would make very little sense, because of the added cost to run utilities
there. I also believe there are some protective measures in the market place today that
were not in place back in 2005 and '6 when we got hit pretty hard. Specially bank
financing. Banks are not lending today like they were back then. They would lend with
their eye closed, frankly, back then and we personally had many lenders approach us,
try to just -- whatever it takes to get our business and that's not happening today. Still
banks today -- on a few occasions they do lend on land, but most of the cases they are
not lending on acquisition -development loans and that's actually holding back and only
allowing some of the -- maybe I will call them the big four or five still the biggest players
of our valley today, because he who owns the land really is controlling the future
housing of this valley.
Rountree: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Yes, Mr. Rountree.
Rountree: Dave, I understand that your presentation is primarily single family
residences. Do you have similar kinds of information on multi -family? We see an awful
lot of multi -family coming into the market. I don't know what the future is for that. Is it
more or are we at a point where vacancy rates are resulting in maybe less investment in
that? How does it play in the market?
Yorgason: Madam Mayor and Council --
Rountree: That would be very interesting to get as well.
Yorgason: Madam Mayor and Councilman Rountree, sorry I interrupted you there.
Rountree: That's fine.
Yorgason: Short answer is yes. I don't have a full presentation for multi -family, but I do
have all the data analysis from the economic impacts and the cost associated with it, so
that first presentation, I have all that for multi -family. The second half of the
presentation I can give you some anecdotal now and I could probably even do a little bit
more research and provide that for you as well. But I can tell you that just from
anecdotals from talking to various investors who are involved with four-plex multi -family
type communities, the vacancy rates are about as low as they have ever been still
today. There is a recognition -- and I really attribute this to smart savvy business
owners here where they recognize that the trend is towards higher interest rates. It will
impact affordability of housing. New construction is still quite expensive to build an
affordable home with the lot prices, the land, whatever the contributing factors are,
which they are all factors, but land is a big part of that. At the end of the day somebody
who is just out of college or some first time home buyer is going to struggle affording a
250,000 dollar home. Clearly that's the case, especially here in Meridian. Adding to
that there has been a shift in buyer preferences. The new generation -- not entirely, but
a greater percentage of them are okay with renting a little bit longer. They really are
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okay with renting and not taking on the burden of debt and so because of that it's also
market driven, which is why there is such low vacancy rates.
Rountree: Thank you.
Yorgason: So, there is still demand, especially in a nice location like -- frankly,
anywhere here in the City of Meridian. I bet I see e-mails and phone calls -- at least two
or three a week -- people asking me do you have any property that I could do a multi-
family project here in Meridian, four-plex or whatever, because they have a demand for
it.
Rountree: Thank you.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Cavener: Dave, it was a great presentation. I really enjoyed it. My question is on the
first part and I like how you were able to really group all five counties together and it
kind of begged the question in my head is are you able to illustrate how big of an
economic driver to the surrounding counties the new home construction in Ada brings?
Are you able to demonstrate that because we are building so much in Ada County that's
actually driving the economy in some of these surrounding counties? And, if so, what is
that amount?
Yorgason: Madam Mayor, Councilman Cavener, I don't have that date, but I can ask for
that data, see what they have. It's pretty technical. When I looked at the report -- and I
could even give the raw data report if you really want it, but the back half is full of
formulas. I mean it's very economic raw level information, which is -- I say thank you,
give me the summary version, which is what I'm providing to you here. You know, the
thought crossed my mind not only -- to anticipate the question not only countywide, but
maybe citywide.
Cavener: Sure.
Yorgason: I can tell you that nearly 40 percent of the building permits in 2013 were in
Meridian.
De Weerd: Well, we could tell you.
Yorgason: But I bet you know that. It's not half, but it's more than a third. Quite a few
of the building permits were here. But clearly not all of the builders live in Meridian;
right? So, they take their wages to where ever they live in Meridian, Boise, Eagle,
where ever they live and they spend some of the money here. They may go out and eat
-- to eat a Subway or they go to Home Depot and buy a hammer or whatever. I should
say -- back up a little bit. During the ripple effect phase not all dollars are spent here
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and certainly not all dollars spent here are recognized in the equation. For example, if
a builder is feeling good, he's sold a few homes and he wants to now finally go buy a
new pickup truck, that pickup truck is not included in this calculation, because pickup
trucks are not made in the valley. So, that portion of expenditure is excluded from --
from the ripple effect, if that gives any indication. To your point, I can ask and see what
percentage of Ada County ripples out. Likewise, the question could be asked if -- you
know, the homes that are built in Canyon county, what impact is there here in Ada
County. Of course there would be some of that, too.
Cavener: Okay. Great.
De Weerd: Any other questions? Well, thank you for your presentation and certainly for
the information and we appreciate you coming here tonight and sharing it.
Yorgason: You're welcome. Thank you all.
De Weerd: And thank you, Jeff, even -- oh, he left.
Bird: He left.
Yorgason: He told me he had a 7:00 o'clock appointment, so he had to --
De Weerd: He has been behind you and I hadn't noticed.
Yorgason: I have left a copy here for you -- electronic copy. And if you have further
questions you can always reach out to me as well.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Yorgason: Thank you.
Item 7: Items Moved From Consent Agenda
De Weerd: Okay. There were no items moved from the Consent Agenda.
Item 8: Department Reports
A. Public Works Department: Meridian Heights Water Meter
Construction Budget Amendment for the Not -to -Exceed
Amount of $315,000.00
De Weerd: So, we will move to Item 8-A, which is under our Public Works Department.
Barry: Good evening, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Tonight we have a
budget amendment for your consideration. I want to give you a little bit of background
about this amendment before we ask for your action on it. You may recall the middle
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 21 of 24
part of last year we entered into a contract with the Meridian Heights Water and Sewer
District and Mr. Centers called a three -party agreement. That agreement obligated
each of those three parties to perform certain obligations and all obligations so far have
thus been met. The vote of the district to dissolve was held. As you know the results of
that were to dissolve. Mr. Centers, the developer, and prominent landowner made the
connections for both water and sewer to the district. That's been done. He has posted
his bond for the connection fees. That's been done. The City of Meridian has gone in
and is now upgrading some of the infrastructure and placing in meter pits and meters as
well into the subdivisions out there. The budget amendment for your consideration is to
cover the cost for the meter pits and installation of the boxes and that type of
infrastructure associated with our project here. This was all contemplated in the three -
party agreement. Exhibit L actually established a pro forma fund, which were identified
to cover these costs and I will just point out on Exhibit L we had about 450,000 dollars
earmarked for water system improvements as an allowance to the City of Meridian for
this agreement. The budget amendment request is for 315,000 dollars, so it's less,
leaving about 135,000 dollars of additional allowance for us to work with in regard to the
-- any additional water system improvement costs that might need to be incurred by the
city. Currently this is a no net increase budget request, because, essentially, one of the
projects in Public Works that was scheduled for this year, the Ten Mile sewer diversion
trunk, was canceled since we were not able to find cooperative property owners to
provide easements for that particular trunk and that's 200,000 dollars. There was
115,000 dollars in savings that we achieved -- two savings, actually, from the 8th Street
sewer main replacement project, so we'd like to, essentially, take those two funds,
which were already set up and approved by City Council as part of our FY -14 budget
and just, essentially, reallocate them and place them into the budget line item, which
would allow us to, then, have access to those funds and utilize those funds for this
particular project. So, it's, essentially, a no net increase to the City of Meridian Public
Works Department budget, but the funds, however, are going to be and have been
allocated from the three party agreement as described in Exhibit L to the agreement.
So, that's, essentially, all I have for you tonight for your consideration and would request
your favorable consideration of the 315,000 dollar reallocation in budget amendment
form. Thank you.
De Weerd: Thank you, Tom. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Okay.
Borton: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Borton.
Borton: If there are no questions, I would move that we approve Item 8-A, the Public
Works budget amendment for the Meridian Heights water meter construction in an
amount not to exceed 315,000.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 22 of 24
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk, will you call
roll.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Thank you.
Barry: Thank you.
B. Parks and Recreation Department: Fiscal Year 2014 Budget
Amendment Regarding Grant Revenue for Settlers Village
Square Phase 2 for a Not -to -Exceed Amount of $8,500.00
De Weerd: Item 8-B is under our Parks and Recreation Department. I will turn this over
to Steve.
Siddoway: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Members of the Council. Pleased to let you
know that we have been successful at applying for and receiving a grant with help from
our friends at the Meridian Tennis Association. As you know we have an active
construction project for the Settlers Park tennis complex. We have been working with
the Meridian Tennis Association on that project for a number of years. With their help
we have approached the U.S. Tennis Association and applied for grant funds. They --
we have received an award letter from them for 7,500 dollars. In addition to that, the
Idaho Tennis Association has also offered an additional thousand dollars and we are
coming before you to just ask for spending authority on those grant funds received. I
will stand for any questions.
De Weerd: Thank you, Steve. Council, any questions?
Bird: I have none.
Rountree: I have none.
Cavener: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Cavener.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 23 of 24
Cavener: Seeing no questions, I move that we approve Item 8-B, a budget amendment
from the Meridian Parks and Recreation Department for an amount not to exceed 8,500
dollars.
Zaremba: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
De Weerd: All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
Item 9: Future Meeting Topics
De Weerd: Item 9 is for any discussion from Council, any topics for future agendas.
Item 10: Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c)(d)(f): (c) To
Conduct Deliberations Concerning Labor Negotiations or to Acquire
an Interest in Real Property, Which is Not Owned by a Public Agency,
(d) To Consider Records that are Exempt from Disclosure as
Provided in Chapter 3, Title 9, Idaho Code, and (f) To Consider and
Advise Its Legal Representatives in Pending Litigation
De Weerd: Okay. Item 10 is Executive Session. I would entertain a motion to adjourn
into Executive Session.
Bird: Madam Mayor?
De Weerd: Mr. Bird.
Bird: I move we go into Executive Session as per Idaho State Code 67-2345 (1)(c),
(1)(d) and (1)(f).
Milam: Second.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: I have a motion and several seconds to adjourn into Executive Session.
Madam Clerk.
Roll Call: Bird, yea; Rountree, yea; Zaremba, yea; Borton, yea; Milam, yea; Cavener,
yea.
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 24 of 24
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (7:10 p.m. to 7:38 p.m.)
De Weerd: Okay. Do I have a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Any further business in front of the Council?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Then do I have a motion to adjourn?
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:38 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR TAMMY DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST:
JAYCEE HOLMAN, CITY CLERK
Meridian City Council
June 17, 2014
Page 24 of 24
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: (7:10 p.m. to 7:38 p.m.)
De Weerd: Okay. Do I have a motion to come out of Executive Session.
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes. Motion carried.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
De Weerd: Any further business in front of the Council?
Bird: I have none.
De Weerd: Then do I have a motion to adjourn?
Bird: So moved.
Rountree: Second.
De Weerd: All those in favor say aye. All ayes.
MOTION CARRIED: ALL AYES.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:38 P.M.
(AUDIO RECORDING ON FILLE F THESE PROCEEDINGS)
MAYOR,,�44MY DE WEERD DATE APPROVED
ATTEST: 1 -015"cuvr,1.o
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